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On the Road Growing East and Fast
On the Road Growing East and Fast
If you want to understand how much Mount Dora is growing — and why that’s costing the city (and residents) so much — follow the water
David Cohea
Mar 20
Citizen Journalist: Riding the Spike
Citizen Journalist: Riding the Spike
Our present moment is a strange one — awesome, dizzy and breakneck, edgy with the sense were are headed toward a cliff we can’t see over…
David Cohea
Mar 29
Mount Dora’s Chautauqua Brand
Mount Dora’s Chautauqua Brand
Trees come back into the political conversation at council’s March 15 meeting. Now more than ever we need a walk in the woods
David Cohea
Mar 15
Citizen Journalist: Wicked Problems, Local Solutions
Citizen Journalist: Wicked Problems, Local Solutions
It’s primary election day in Mount Dora. Can you feel the cringe?
David Cohea
Mar 15
Confessions of a Mount Dora Road Warrior
Confessions of a Mount Dora Road Warrior
Many residents commute from Mount Dora to work elsewhere. Will the Wekiva Parkway make that daily job better or worse for us?
David Cohea
Feb 20
Of Catastrophe and Community
Of Catastrophe and Community
Thinking about the unthinkable gives pause to reflect about the value (and strength) of our community.
David Cohea
Feb 10
Back To the Past: The Abandoned Cemetery, Part Two
Back To the Past: The Abandoned Cemetery, Part Two
A continuing series looking into forgotten cemetery beyond the border of Mount Dora’s history.
David Cohea
Feb 14
Black Florida Night, White Smoke
Black Florida Night, White Smoke
Nights like this — soaked and swampy from rains, hot already at 5 a.m., the dark refusing to wake — make me think of the road to…
David Cohea
Jun 23, 2015
Haters
Haters
The hate machine is busy screaming across America. Let’s turn it away from Mount Dora
David Cohea
Feb 1
A Message to Mount Dora City Council
A Message to Mount Dora City Council
A plea to elected leaders to act responsibly
David Cohea
Jan 21
Racism
Untold Stories of Mount Dora: East Town
Untold Stories of Mount Dora: East Town
What is now called the Northeast Community has for too long been sidelined from the city’s main narrative.
David Cohea
Dec 12, 2015
Justice in the Grove
Justice in the Grove
Mount Dora High students hold a press conference, and justice in Florida gets some hope for the future.
David Cohea
Dec 20, 2015
Cleaning Up the Past: An Interview with Gilbert King
Cleaning Up the Past: An Interview with Gilbert King
A Pulitzer Prize-winning book set in Lake County is spurring a growing cry for justice for four men trapped in a dark chapter of our not-so…
David Cohea
Oct 31, 2015
Mount Dora
A Park for Mount Dora’s Lost History
A Park for Mount Dora’s Lost History
Wedged between golf fairways and expensive houses, a small, abandoned cemetery raises fresh questions about Mount Dora’s history — and what…
David Cohea
Jan 17
For a Mother and Daughter, Now Both Lost in the Ink
For a Mother and Daughter, Now Both Lost in the Ink
Pat Reese Chesley, the daughter of former Mount Dora Topic editor Mabel Norris Reese, died this week of long-standing complications from…
David Cohea
Dec 12, 2015
Mr. Macbeth Goes to Council
Mr. Macbeth Goes to Council
If Mount Dora’s new council reads a lot like Shakespeare, it’s because the tale isn’t new
David Cohea
Dec 6, 2015
Peyton Placers
Peyton Placers
When we look for the archetype of American small town life, there are two: Mayberry and Peyton Place. Mayberry is the daytime version…
David Cohea
Dec 1, 2015
Gratitude For Godzilla: A Mount Dora Thanksgiving
Gratitude For Godzilla: A Mount Dora Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving comes to Mount Dora with somewhat cooler, fleetingly wetter days and moonier nights — enough, hopefully, of what passes for…
David Cohea
Nov 26, 2015
Citizen Journalist: Getting It Right
Citizen Journalist: Getting It Right
Not so easy to do in a city of shadows and fog. (The third in an occasional series)
David Cohea
Nov 19, 2015
Saving Our Yesterdays
Saving Our Yesterdays
Historic Preservation in Mount Dora
David Cohea
Nov 13, 2015
A Vision for Mount Dora’s Future that Respects the Past
A Vision for Mount Dora’s Future that Respects the Past
Mount Dora has a guidepost for its future. Above the daily fray of tending fire hydrants, passing budgets and replacing trees, it’s what…
David Cohea
Nov 15, 2015
Election Day in Mount Dora
Election Day in Mount Dora
Lots of sound and fury, but will anyone turn up to vote?
David Cohea
Nov 3, 2015
A Timbered Choir
A Timbered Choir
Mount Dora’s long love affair with its trees
David Cohea
Nov 7, 2015
Remembering Coach Dan Spear
Remembering Coach Dan Spear
October 30, 2015
David Cohea
Nov 13, 2015
Citizen. Journalist.
Citizen. Journalist.
What does it mean to be a citizen journalist, and how does it differ from opinion?
David Cohea
Oct 31, 2015
Newspapers
A History of Mount Dora’s News (1)
A History of Mount Dora’s News (1)
Mount Dora’s news for 100 years was a newspaper’s beat (what’s next?)
David Cohea
Nov 15, 2015
A History of Mount Dora’s News (2)
A History of Mount Dora’s News (2)
The Topic gets an editor willing to stand up for the truth at all costs.
David Cohea
Nov 15, 2015
A History of Mount Dora’s News (Part 3)
A History of Mount Dora’s News (Part 3)
Mount Dora booms with a newspaper to suit.
David Cohea
Nov 16, 2015
A History of Mount Dora’s News (Part 4)
A History of Mount Dora’s News (Part 4)
A newspaper fades and then disappears, leaving Mount Dorans to wonder at what cost.
David Cohea
Nov 16, 2015
Innovation District
1: Growth is Coming to Mount Dora (Fast)
1: Growth is Coming to Mount Dora (Fast)
In Honky Tonk Freeway, the 1981 movie filmed in Mount Dora, the fictional small town of Ticlaw tries to get an offramp from a new freeway…
David Cohea
Nov 13, 2015
2: A Plan Envisioned and Crafted
2: A Plan Envisioned and Crafted
Earlier in the decade, the city was coming out of tough recession, the result of the collapse of real estate prices following a regional…
David Cohea
Nov 13, 2015
3: Relationships Count
3: Relationships Count
Consider that the city doesn’t own the land that fans out around the intersection of Round Lake Road and SR-46; it’s in unincorporated Lake…
David Cohea
Nov 13, 2015
4: What If It Fails?
4: What If It Fails?
Lake County’s population has boomed over the past two decades, doubling from 154,000 in the 1990 census to 298,000 in 2010. By 2020, the…
David Cohea
Nov 13, 2015
5: Shiny Things Everywhere
5: Shiny Things Everywhere
October 17, 2015
David Cohea
Nov 13, 2015
6: The City Rolls Up Its Sleeves
6: The City Rolls Up Its Sleeves
For most residents, signs of the looming growth are still hard to find. The best evidence of it so far may be the disappearance of “For…
David Cohea
Nov 13, 2015
7: Protecting The Village
7: Protecting The Village
When the Wekiva Parkway finally completes in 2020, the SR-429 toll road that travels from Disney up through northwest Orlando will finally…
David Cohea
Nov 13, 2015
8: The Balance
8: The Balance
Unlike the fictional town of Ticlaw in Honky Tonk Freeway, Mount Dora is getting its freeway exit, and growth is coming to town. If the…
David Cohea
Nov 13, 2015
Local News
Junk Shop Blues, Winehouse Rules
Junk Shop Blues, Winehouse Rules
Finding good reason to save the digital past in the strangest of places
King Features Weekly
Jul 2, 2015
Between the News and the World, a Bad Dream
Between the News and the World, a Bad Dream
As long as newspapers remain shackled to advertising, the nightmare will worsen
King Features Weekly
Aug 21, 2015
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